I fretted over my first job out of college, finally accepted an offer and quit 5 months later. it took me that long to figure out that the money doesn't matter, its all about the challenge of the work. if you don't find the work interesting, you won't be happy.
(6 yrs later, i now work for myself, making less than ever, and am happier than i've ever been)
I will concede to you that miracles in the present age are difficult to verify--and are easy to dismiss to the scientifically inclined. I believe miracles can and do happen, I have seen them for myself: a one-sided deaf girl regained hearing, emotionally depressed friend bursting out uncontrollably in laughter (i was right next to him, no one told a really funny joke), people speaking out fluently in foreign languages that they've never spoken before and it being interpreted by the portugese woman on the other side of the room -- all of these occurances happening suddenly, during prayer meetings in a church. I don't expect you to take my word for it, I have no proof. Coincidence? Certainly possible, I don't know the background of most of these people. I don't understand in entirety how the human body does what it does (more evidence of intelligent design and my opinion). But I guess I would say that miracles are difficult to verify because nobody knows how, when or where God chooses to intervene in human affairs.
But the point of all of this is most definitely not miracles. Thats really weak stuff to base a theology on. I believe in Jesus' puported miracles not because I have some extraordinary evidence, but because I believe he was sent by God. Thats my primary leap of faith, but its a leap that has been confirmed through my own spiritual journey these past 20 or so years. My belief in God is in one way also a leap of faith, because I can't conjure him up or prove him in a lab. But quite honestly, it seems more reasonable and rational to me to believe that this place I live in, which shows evidence of design, was created by a masterful designer. Actually it screams out at my every time I talk a walk or work in the garden or watch animals in their natural habitat.
I don't know if you've ever had a chance to read Mere Christianity, but I've found it intellectually stimulating when it comes to topics of God and man. Nobody can explain God in human language, but Lewis comes pretty close.
You are a well-reasoned and articulate writer, and I'm glad to hear that you have at least investigated Christianity.
I see no reason to believe in anything for which I cannot derive any reasonable cognitive model.
This is the inherent flaw in atheist logic, in my opinion. If there is a God, he would not be bound by human cognitive models any more than humans would be bound by their own creations. My PHP script must run according to the commands I created it with, but that doesn't mean I am bound by those commands. I can create a whole new programming language, if I choose.
The large assumptions I'm referring to is the belief that all of reality came about by mere chance. To me thats just as outrageous as any miracle in the Bible. Clearly, we both are exercising faith about the origins of the universe, because neither of us can prove our theories in a lab.
Evolution is a theory that says that organisms change over time as a result of various pressures on the organism...
This is micro-evolution, and yes it does occur all the time and is easily verifiable. What creationists contest is macro-evolution. The debate would be over tomorrow if the evolutionists could just open up a museum of transitional-species. So far all we have is drawings and computer animations.
As for documented miracles, try googling around. There are articles written all the time about "scientifically inexplicable" healings. Like this one: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/atoz/miracle_men.shtml
Miracles can and do happen all the time, and they are many thoroughly documented examples. Over 70% of American doctors believe miracles occur today (http://www.jtsa.edu/research/finkelstein/surveys/ physicians.shtml). Of course they are never reported as miracles, but rather "mysterious self-healing properties of the human body".
Atheism and evolutionism makes some prety large assumptions if you want to talk about proof. But that wasn't the point of my response. My point was the *message* of the Bible is what matters, not the hard-to-swallow events. Have you ever investigated the claims of christianity for yourself?
Mythological and seemingly impossible miracles aside, the Bible is merely an account of generations of people who believed in the God of Israel. Just because the miracles seem far fetched doesn't disprove the entire contents.
The problem I see in reading these commentaries is the same that I see with so many debates in our world today, be it religion, politics, abortion, gay rights, etc. Everyone is speaking from a place of perceived understanding. Its by our perceptions of "the other side" that we make our judgements, whether or not we personally known any of them. Second, we have this insatiable tendancy to group an entire group by the actions of a few individuals, usually the most extreme. Categorize and dismiss, so we don't have do deal with any of them. Its akin to saying Democrats should never be in charge of the country because they're weak on defense.
I would challenge those of you who have a problem with what the bible says to actually sit down and read a few chapters. You might find the story to be a bit different than you perceived it to be.
Unique/rare products alone won't bring success. The way the business markets and sells those products--aka, "business model"--is what separates the wheat from the chaff.
That said, having a new or proprietary product certainly gives you a competitive advantage.
Don't get me started on patents. $50,000 minimum to obtain a patent, and $1MM minimum* to defend it in court? So much for gov't helping small businesses.
* Have talked to several lawfirms to confirm these prices
"It's important for people to know whether or not their search results are being bought by big business," said Gary Ruskin, the group's executive director.
how is this harming consumers? the very notion of profit is evil to these people.
Slashdot Mirror
did the Dutch we-don't-trust-voting-ballots foundation demonstrate glaring security holes in Dutch voting ballots too?
I fretted over my first job out of college, finally accepted an offer and quit 5 months later. it took me that long to figure out that the money doesn't matter, its all about the challenge of the work. if you don't find the work interesting, you won't be happy.
(6 yrs later, i now work for myself, making less than ever, and am happier than i've ever been)
are they censoring republicans too?
p ?ARTICLE_ID=52405
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.as
Whew, I can see you enjoy writing!
I will concede to you that miracles in the present age are difficult to verify--and are easy to dismiss to the scientifically inclined. I believe miracles can and do happen, I have seen them for myself: a one-sided deaf girl regained hearing, emotionally depressed friend bursting out uncontrollably in laughter (i was right next to him, no one told a really funny joke), people speaking out fluently in foreign languages that they've never spoken before and it being interpreted by the portugese woman on the other side of the room -- all of these occurances happening suddenly, during prayer meetings in a church. I don't expect you to take my word for it, I have no proof. Coincidence? Certainly possible, I don't know the background of most of these people. I don't understand in entirety how the human body does what it does (more evidence of intelligent design and my opinion). But I guess I would say that miracles are difficult to verify because nobody knows how, when or where God chooses to intervene in human affairs.
But the point of all of this is most definitely not miracles. Thats really weak stuff to base a theology on. I believe in Jesus' puported miracles not because I have some extraordinary evidence, but because I believe he was sent by God. Thats my primary leap of faith, but its a leap that has been confirmed through my own spiritual journey these past 20 or so years. My belief in God is in one way also a leap of faith, because I can't conjure him up or prove him in a lab. But quite honestly, it seems more reasonable and rational to me to believe that this place I live in, which shows evidence of design, was created by a masterful designer. Actually it screams out at my every time I talk a walk or work in the garden or watch animals in their natural habitat.
I don't know if you've ever had a chance to read Mere Christianity, but I've found it intellectually stimulating when it comes to topics of God and man. Nobody can explain God in human language, but Lewis comes pretty close.
You are a well-reasoned and articulate writer, and I'm glad to hear that you have at least investigated Christianity.
I see no reason to believe in anything for which I cannot derive any reasonable cognitive model.
This is the inherent flaw in atheist logic, in my opinion. If there is a God, he would not be bound by human cognitive models any more than humans would be bound by their own creations. My PHP script must run according to the commands I created it with, but that doesn't mean I am bound by those commands. I can create a whole new programming language, if I choose.
The large assumptions I'm referring to is the belief that all of reality came about by mere chance. To me thats just as outrageous as any miracle in the Bible. Clearly, we both are exercising faith about the origins of the universe, because neither of us can prove our theories in a lab.
Evolution is a theory that says that organisms change over time as a result of various pressures on the organism...
This is micro-evolution, and yes it does occur all the time and is easily verifiable. What creationists contest is macro-evolution. The debate would be over tomorrow if the evolutionists could just open up a museum of transitional-species. So far all we have is drawings and computer animations.
As for documented miracles, try googling around. There are articles written all the time about "scientifically inexplicable" healings. Like this one: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/atoz/miracle_men.shtml
Miracles can and do happen all the time, and they are many thoroughly documented examples. Over 70% of American doctors believe miracles occur today (http://www.jtsa.edu/research/finkelstein/surveys/ physicians.shtml). Of course they are never reported as miracles, but rather "mysterious self-healing properties of the human body".
Atheism and evolutionism makes some prety large assumptions if you want to talk about proof. But that wasn't the point of my response. My point was the *message* of the Bible is what matters, not the hard-to-swallow events. Have you ever investigated the claims of christianity for yourself?
Mythological and seemingly impossible miracles aside, the Bible is merely an account of generations of people who believed in the God of Israel. Just because the miracles seem far fetched doesn't disprove the entire contents.
The problem I see in reading these commentaries is the same that I see with so many debates in our world today, be it religion, politics, abortion, gay rights, etc. Everyone is speaking from a place of perceived understanding. Its by our perceptions of "the other side" that we make our judgements, whether or not we personally known any of them. Second, we have this insatiable tendancy to group an entire group by the actions of a few individuals, usually the most extreme. Categorize and dismiss, so we don't have do deal with any of them. Its akin to saying Democrats should never be in charge of the country because they're weak on defense.
I would challenge those of you who have a problem with what the bible says to actually sit down and read a few chapters. You might find the story to be a bit different than you perceived it to be.
Unique/rare products alone won't bring success. The way the business markets and sells those products--aka, "business model"--is what separates the wheat from the chaff.
That said, having a new or proprietary product certainly gives you a competitive advantage.
Don't get me started on patents. $50,000 minimum to obtain a patent, and $1MM minimum* to defend it in court? So much for gov't helping small businesses.
* Have talked to several lawfirms to confirm these prices
Get in or be left in the dust? You mean follow suit like all the other dotcoms did in the late 90's?
Gold rushes without stopping to evaluate the true ROI rarely yield results. Better off buying lottery tickets w/ next week's payroll.
"It's important for people to know whether or not their search results are being bought by big business," said Gary Ruskin, the group's executive director.
how is this harming consumers? the very notion of profit is evil to these people.
This may be a bit outdated, but you can find some storm chaser reviews of GPS units here:
http://www.stormtrack.org/equip/
(click on Electronics)